Most Viewed, Species Extinction

Corals in the central and western Pacific ocean are dying faster than previously thought, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have found. Nearly 600 square miles of reef have disappeared per year since the late 1960s, twice the rate of rainforest loss.

Close to 10 million turtles are traded each year in Asian food markets despite global efforts to stem the practice that many experts say is causing the rapid extinction of some species of the shelled reptiles.

Caribbean coral species are dying off, indicating dramatic shifts in the ecological balance under the sea, a new scientific study of Caribbean marine life shows. The study found that 10 percent of the Caribbean’s 62 reef-building corals were under threat, including staghorn and elkhorn corals.

Goes through a list of species under stress because of global warming. What troubles scientists especially is that if we are only in the early stages of warming, all these lost and endangered animals might be just the first of many to go. One study estimates that more than a million species worldwide could be driven to extinction by the year 2050.

Scientists have known for years that when fishing trawlers drag nets and gear across the ocean bottom they trap or kill almost all the fish, mollusks and other creatures they encounter. And the dragging destroys underwater features like reefs, turning the bottom to mud.

Europeans may claim a leadership role when it comes to fighting global warming, but they get black marks from environmentalists - and even from Washington - for failing to control their fishing fleets in the Mediterranean and other coastal waters.